This work uses The Great Palm House at the National Botanic Gardens as a responsive site and a research source. The area became a means of exploring the relationships between humans and biodiversity in the age of the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene epoch began with the age of racial and colonial capitalism and described the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to significantly impact the planet’s ecosystems. Since the 15th century, our planetary footprint has grown exponentially. This impact is evident regarding global climate change, the heating of the atmosphere and oceans caused by fossil fuels, overharvesting, destructive agriculture, and forestry practices. In this time of significant change, greenhouses are a crucial part of scientific research and a symbolic characteristic of the legacy of colonialism.

While exploring The Great Palm House, I was interested in experimenting with organic materials and architectural structures. I used found objects, photography, and location recordings to construct a narrative of the relationships between complex ecosystems and industrial modernisation. The central elements of “Frameworks’’ comprise soil, paper, sound, and video, housed in traditional and modern everyday objects. The individual works can be reconfigured in a variety of different orientations. The forms meet and respond to their present surroundings. The TV/looped video footage is viewed objectively on the soil. We hear a single bird song inside the wooden case in the location recording. The aluminium and acetate display mechanisms can be viewed from multiple perspectives and are activated by light and shadow.